On October 11, 2016, not long after an Access Hollywood tape of then-Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump speaking lewdly was leaked, The Los Angeles Times were rounding up the responses from California Republicans.

Many Republicans in California followed the lead of Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney, and other establishment Republican leaders: they disendorsed, disavowed, and distanced themselves from Donald Trump.

Representative Dana Rohrabacher spoke loud and clear: “I think the Republicans who are backing away [from Donald Trump] are gutless. We don’t have to just be concerned about saving House seats. We have to be concerned about saving the United States of America.”

“Leaders are supposed to stand firm and solid in moments of crisis,” Rohrabacher told the Register.

Rohrabacher, like Trump, did.

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher has represented parts of Southern California in the House of Representatives as a Republican since 1989. With over 25 years of congressional experience, he’s seen the collapse of the Soviet Union, the War on Terror, and the rise of China all from his vantage point as a U.S. congressman.

As a member of President Ronald Reagan’s administration, Rohrabacher played a key role in devising Reagan Doctrine, the U.S. foreign policy to peacefully defeat the Soviet Union — and it worked!

But Rep. Dana Rohrabacher was no chickenhawk: shortly after being elected to Congress in 1988, he traveled to Afghanistan and personally joined the anti-Soviet rebellion, sporting a beard, traditional Afghan attire, and an AK-47.

We’re not kidding. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher was a literal anti-communist freedom fighter in another life. Here’s the photo evidence:

Given this history, you would think Rohrabacher to be a rabid anti-Russian, neoconservative hawk itching to put up a “no-fly zone” in Syria and start a hot war with Assad and the Russian Army to settle an old score. You would be completely wrong.

““It just so happens that Donald Trump and I agree on the major foreign policy decisions that will have to be made,” he said.

Rohrabacher said that central to his view of American foreign policy is the development of a quartet of nations, led by the United States, to grow the world economy, combat terrorism, and check the influence and power of China.

In the congressman’s view, Japan, India, Russia, and the United States share common interests, common rivals, and by working together would fashion a more peaceful and prosperous world.

(…)

“New alliances, like a grand alliance with the United States with Russia, Japan and India could well do more to preserve the peace and the stability of the world and secure our freedom–especially against radical Islam and China–than any of the old alliances could because the old alliances are not useful in meeting today’s challenges–compared to what they did 40 years ago.””

Rohrabacher currently chairs the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats. In the past he has served on several committees on foreign policy, science, and space. He is perfectly prepared to deal with Russia, Syria, ISIS, Turkey, and the European migrant crisis. It’s his specialty.

And Rohrabacher is no late boarder on the Trump Train: many of his policy positions foreshadowed the rise of Trump for a long time.

Having fought the Russians himself — a distinction not one of the neocons like Mitt Romney or John Bolton, let alone Hillary-hawks, can claim — Rohrabacher understands and respects the power of the enemy. He does not think like a trigger-happy bureaucrat safe in Washington, D.C. He thinks like an old-school, red-blooded American Lawrence of Arabia. Like Teddy Roosevelt, he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty himself.

He is the rare wise adventurer with 27 years of Washington congressional experience.

And as the Trump administration rolls up its sleeves and gets down to the tough task of Making America Great Again, what better loyal, worldly, gritty warrior is there to be Secretary of State than Rep. Dana Rohrabacher?

About Charles C. Johnson

Gotnews.com founder and editor-in-chief Charles C. Johnson is an investigative journalist, author, and sought after researcher. He was a contributor to the Daily Caller and the Blaze, and his work is frequently featured on Drudge Report. He is author of Why Coolidge Matters: Leadership Lessons from America’s Most Underrated President and The Truth About the IRS Scandal. Charles is an award-winning journalist who has also written for Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Los Angeles Times, American Spectator, Daily Beast, National Review Online, PJ Media, and Weekly Standard. Charles has appeared on Fox News with Megyn Kelly, Sean Hannity, and Lou Dobbs and numerous radio programs, including Rusty Humphries, Dennis Prager, Larry Elder, and Mark Levin. He is at work on a new book about the researcher community and Barack Obama.